The Criterion Collection
Jan 5, 2016 — Toshiya Fujita’s two-film saga set exuberant, manga-inspired martial-arts choreography against a backdrop of a Japanese society in transition to unfold a vivid tale of epic vengeance.
In Theaters
Dec 29, 2015 — One refrain often heard in discussions of twenty-first-century film culture is a lament for the loss of social film viewing. While we celebrate the fact that digital technologies have given us convenient access to unprecedented numbers of movies, old and...
In Theaters
Dec 17, 2015 — Repertory PicksJust in time for December’s holiday gatherings and celebrations, the Cinefamily theater in Los Angeles will screen Arnaud Desplechin’s 2008 film A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël), as part of its monthly series La Collectionneuse, which is devoted...
Dec 8, 2015 — In Speedy, Harold Lloyd, a comic genius who thought of himself as a quintessentially average American man, places his optimistic everyman character within the context of a society in shift, to great comedic effect.
Short Takes
Dec 2, 2015 — This fall the British Film Institute inaugurated a season-long celebration of on-screen romance with LOVE, its UK-wide series of theatrical screenings and rereleases of classic film love stories—from Badlands to A Room with a View. In conjunction with this month's...
Essays
Dec 1, 2015 — Critic Todd McCarthy takes an inside look at Michael Ritchie's outdoor drama, which he calls “spare, cut to the bone, as fine as dry powder. Had Hemingway ever written about competitive skiing, this would have been the right style with...
Sneak Peeks
Nov 28, 2015 — We had some fun making the main menu for our new release of D. A. Pennebaker's groundbreaking documentary Dont Look Back. The menu’s video, a two-minute loop composed of rare footage from the film, is structured around an outtake of...
Short Takes
Nov 25, 2015 — Last week, when John Waters stopped by Criterion for a visit, we asked the cult filmmaker (and connoisseur of holiday entertainment) for his recommendations of the films we should be watching this holiday season. Naturally, he responded with one of...
Essays
Nov 25, 2015 — Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film about one man’s mortality offers a study in postwar Japan, Kurosawa vs. Ozu, and the realization that knowing how to die requires learning how to be alive.
Short Takes
Nov 24, 2015 — Film scholar David Bordwell has written a terrific new piece for his blog about the incredible influence and evolution of Agnès Varda’s six-decade-long filmmaking career. “Varda is now regarded as a living treasure of world cinema,” Bordwell writes. “Whatever she...